U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for December 28: Chewsy Americans

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Dec 28, 2015, 12:01 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

CHEWSY AMERICANS

Profile America — Monday, December 28th. The month of December has given Americans a lot to chew on, beyond holiday cookies, fruitcakes and candies. In December 1869, chewing gum was patented by Ohio dentist William Semple, who hoped that the flavored gum would help people keep their teeth clean. And the first bubble gum, created by Walter Deemer of the Fleer chewing gum company, was sold in a single Philadelphia location the day after Christmas in 1928. Both gum varieties have spread globally, which unfortunately includes on sidewalks and under tables and chairs. Around 100,000 tons of chewing gum alone are consumed in the U.S. annually. The manufactured value of both chewing and bubble gum is around $1.8 billion per year. Profile America is in its19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:
Gum patent/accessed 10/30/2015: http://www.heartlandscience.org/agrifood/gum.htm
Flavor enhancement/accessed 10/30/2015: http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gum.htm
Bubble gum sold/accessed 10/30/2015: https://books.google.com/books?id=2TEEaCrPiWsC&pg=PT186&lpg=PT186&dq=bubble+gum+December+1928&source=bl&ots=bbW1-U1N53&sig=53xEQLEFte-uS1beANnrvLnQnSw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEEQ6AEwCGoVChMIl5a31JGiyAIVC9YeCh1aeQbw#v=onepage&q=bubble%20gum%20December%201928&f=false
Consumption/accessed 10/30/2015: http://www.statisticbrain.com/chewing-gum-statistics/
Value of gum manufacturing/NAICS 3113404: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ASM_2013_31VS101&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau